Ghost hunters get results in Shawnee Inn study

Friday

Feb 15, 2013 at 11:27 AM

While walking into the Shawnee Inn for the start of a paranormal investigation, John Hotchkiss of Core Phenomena Research said, "If nothing happens, nothing happens. But if something does happen, it makes it all worth it."

MELANIE VANDERVEER

While walking into the Shawnee Inn for the start of a paranormal investigation, John Hotchkiss of Core Phenomena Research said, "If nothing happens, nothing happens. But if something does happen, it makes it all worth it."

That's the attitude the five-person crew had while setting up for the start of what will end up being a four- to five-month-long investigation. All five where hopeful they would get some type of evidence that the stories of Shawnee Inn having paranormal residents was true.

After about an hour of setting up video and audio equipment, and a quick discussion with some night employees, it was time for the crew to sit down and try to stir some hard-core evidence. Night employees told stories of strange door rattlings and odd noises.

One employee said, "There was something recently. Around 3 a.m., the doors to the ballroom sounded like something was banging against them. I looked down the hall and saw the doors rattling from the other side. It happened on its own every 30 seconds or so. It would stop and start again."

Other night employees said they would hear strange noises with no explanations and see strange floating beings. And yet other employees said they hadn't seen or heard anything out of the ordinary.

The first night of investigating took place in the resort's ballroom. The ballroom, adjacent to the kitchen and River Room bar, is the sight of many unexplained stories.

Each group member had his or her own job. Liza Hotchkiss set up the video cameras.

"I am the videographer. I also do a lot of the background research," she said. "The quad system, a four-camera DVR recorder with night vision, is what we are using. As soon as the lights go out, I'll see everything going on in this room."

Josh Fincke is the audio specialist. He sets up the audio recorders and reviews all the audio collected after the investigation. He's been interested in this field since childhood.

Fincke used three different types of audio recorders during the overnight investigation.

"They have stereo microphones inside," Fincke said. "The microphones are so good on them. And they are portable so you can move them around. They are all studio quality and very clear. The RT EVP, or real time electronic voice phenomenon, has an omni directional mic. It will pick up everything 360 degrees."

Margi Fincke, Josh's mom, has been with the group for about five years. Upon a quick flash of the camera in different areas of the ballroom, Margi was able to make one determination instantly, "There are energy orbs in here."

For Kathy Kennedy, this was her first official investigation.

"I work with John and Liza and it's always been an interest of mine," she said. "This is my first big official investigation with them."

After spending the overnight hours in the ballroom and surrounding areas, the team had some interesting news to share.

"We settled down to monitor equipment and trying to make audible contact," said John Hotchkiss. "We were taking turns to reach out to whoever might be there with us, and started having considerable luck. Margi had a chat with what seemed to be a female entity via manipulated light flashes for yes and no answers on the K2 EMF meter.

"At certain points after the kitchen was closed, we kept peripherally seeing a shadow moving back and forth past the door windows. Upon inspection, we could find nothing that would create a shadow as we were seeing."

The crew heard a loud crash in the empty kitchen.

"I asked for this entity to give us a sign," Hotchkiss said. "We knew no one was

back there. Upon inspection, we saw that items had been thrown off shelves and were lying on the floor. We checked to see if there were uneven shelves, or breezes or what not that could have caused this, and could find nothing," he said.

"The items were not all from the same shelves, and from random spots on several shelves, including an empty box that had been flung from the floor out into the middle of the kitchen. It seems we upset something that was trying to remain unobtrusive."

With a rumor lingering that the Shawnee Inn was on the docket to be the hotel in the movie "The Shining," the investigation is living up to the rumor.

Core Phenomena Research plans a few more overnight stays at the resort to do more investigating in different areas of the hotel. With a lot of work ahead During the summer months, they will also be doing an outside investigation of Fort Depuy, a few miles down the road from Shawnee Inn.

Once completed and analyzed, they'll give a presentation in November.

For more information about Core Phenomena Research,visit corephenomena.com.